This Ramadan we witnessed many successful and impressive campaigns, some of these campaigns belong to one of the best agencies in Egypt, which is Tarek Nour Communications. TNC worked on campaigns for MG, Magdy Yacoub, La Poir, NBE, and Wesal.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Basel El-Deeb, partner and Co-CEO of TNC to discuss how he and the team were able to pull off such successful campaigns during this season of adverts.
Take a look at the adverts
TNC has worked on a number of campaigns this Ramadan, How were you able to manage all of these campaigns and keep everything on track?
We have worked on 11 campaigns for 8 brands, there are 4 main aspects that allow us to properly and professionally manage these campaigns and deliver on time at the highest quality from a strategic, creative, and executional perspective.
The first aspect is having the right people in the right seats across all departments, who share our values and are capable of delivering a world-class product and yes we do have them.
The second aspect is working with the right partners who let you drive, trust you, and are ambitious to do some good work; so thank you to all our partners.
The third aspect is time management; we at TN Group have learned that Ramadan is a very special season that really requires us to start quite early to be able to take our time in the strategy formulation, creative development, and a world-class execution with the best in Egypt and outside Egypt, starting the Ramadan process early allows us to do the job properly, work with the best and also avoid any compromising due to the time factor.
The fourth and last aspect is the operation management, we had a weekly meeting in the first 3 months of preparation, then twice a week in the fourth month then a daily reporting system where all parties are involved to be on top of any updates and statuses of all projects.
How do you manage to make each Ramadan different from the other? since you always stand out with you’re adverts each season
I believe it is in our DNA, we at TNC truly believe in NOT following the competitive herd and always striving to get better and to do different stuff that would achieve the business results of our partners. And again we can’t do this without the four aspects mentioned earlier.
Which campaign was the hardest to work on? And why?
Honestly, all campaigns were not easy to work on, simply because we deal with any project with the same importance and dedication, and each one takes a lot of time to think of and execute at our standards, but of course, sometimes we face some challenges and bad luck in the execution phase but at the end, we go the extra mile to overcome any challenges and find smart solutions to get it done, I can tell that Valu and MG campaigns were the hardest this year due to some external factors that made us go back and forth till we ended up with the final product
Which campaign was the most fun to work on? And why?
I know it might sound cheesy and diplomatic but the truth is All campaigns were fun to work on this year despite the challenges we faced throughout the whole process
What is the one common challenge you faced during working on all of the campaigns?
The common challenge is always for us .. how to crack the brief RIGHT on a strategic level, this makes it easier for us in the following phases of the process and it is important to mention that some campaigns were initiatives from our side with no briefs.
Which campaign gave you unexpected results?
If we are talking in terms of business results, I cant tell you now, we have to wait a little bit so we can better assess, but if we look at it from the public and the experts’ perspective, I would confidently say that we have several campaigns, the Magdi Yacoub campaign “ Ya Mesafer Wahdak”, the feedback was exceptional, the ad has been featured in shots, has been selected as the Vimeo staff pick, in addition to the overall positive feedback, also MG ad has been featured in shots, the feedback was also great for NBE brand campaign, Lapoire, Ahl Masr, Valu.
Since Ramadan is the season of adverts and it can be stressful, How do you encourage your team during this stressful time?
it is an ongoing natural relationship between me and the whole team not only in the Ramadan phase, of course, but also there’s an extra continuous psychological boost throughout the process so they can reach the finish line at our standards, and again we have the right people there who are passionate and hungry to do great work which makes it easier for us.
What is your favorite Ramadan campaign? From TNC and outside
From TNC I really love all campaigns and am proud of them all but MYF, NBE, MG, Valu, and Lapoire have a special place in my heart and also I love the songs of Ahl Masr (Ahmed saad) and wesal (Bahaa sultan)
Outside TNC, I really like Nescafe and the drugs ad.
We can see from the campaigns that the 2 main factors were In control, Humor as we saw in MG, and Emotional as we saw in the NBE brand; which of these two factors do you enjoy working with?
This depends on the objective of each campaign and how to translate our strategic approach for each one into a smart creative execution that would achieve the bigger objective.
Lets’s agree that in general, winning the audience’s hearts is a key as emotions always come first before the desired actions and this is how 95% of human being act, the emotional approach (which includes humor and other techniques) is always a winner if and only if it is done smartly and in a convincing way.
What did you learn from this season of adverts?
This season just confirmed to us what we have figured out a long time ago, we have to think differently and not follow the competitive herd, also confirmed that one formula might work for a certain brand in a certain category at a certain time, but this doesn’t mean at all that it will work for others, might not even work for the same brand in a different time.
Using celebrities is only an effective approach if and only if it is relevant to the product, and service and helps in achieving the bigger objective.
What is the international and local brand you wish you can work with?
I love working on ambitious local brands in general and taking them to an international level.
Describe his season and the Ramadan campaigns you worked on with one
WINNERS 🙂
We would love to thank TNC and Basel El-Deeb for this interview as it is rich with details and information and we can’t wait to see their next successful campaigns.
Which TNC campaigns did you like the most?
